Yes, this is important research and people are employed doing it 39% (137)

No, this is bogus research and it's not an economic boost 61% (218)

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Though James Lange is well known among those who study alcohol abuse, specifically drunken driving, his research has been largely invisible to the general public.

That changed last week, when two U.S. senators called attention to the San Diego State University professor’s work – in a less than flattering manner.

In a report titled “Summertime Blues,” Republican Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and John McCain of Arizona listed Lange’s current project among “100 federal stimulus projects that give taxpayers the blues.”

Lane is studying whether labeling the alcohol content of drinks served in bars and restaurants could lead to more moderate drinking and a reduction in drunken driving. The research is funded by a $497,117 grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, which is an arm of the National Institutes of Health.

“I was a little surprised,” Lange said. “Actually, I was very surprised that this project, which at its heart is drunken driving research, was included. Drunken driving kills over 11,000 Americans every year, and many of us are looking at trying to reduce it.”

Lange, who holds a doctorate from the University of Maryland, is San Diego State’s coordinator of alcohol and other drug initiatives. His primary job is reducing drug and alcohol abuse among the university’s students, but he has remained active in research.

“Jim has published a number of articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and has had other NIH grants,” said Robert Voas, senior research scientist and director of the Impaired Driving Center at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Prince Georges County, Md. “He’s a respected scientist.”

The senators’ report skewers projects ranging from ice rink improvements in Minnesota to window replacement at a shuttered visitor center on Mount St. Helens.

The introduction to the report criticizes the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly called the stimulus bill, for failing to stem job losses while increasing the national debt. It says that some projects in the report address “questionable goals” and that others may have merit but “were mismanaged or poorly planned.” Still others, it says, may have actually cost jobs and hurt small business.

Lange’s project is listed at No. 78 on the report, which includes a photo of a Pacific Beach bar and notes, “The research includes field experiments to test the ‘effectiveness of different disclosure strategies under various levels of natural drunkenness.’”

Coburn’s press secretary, John Hart, elaborated in an interview Thursday.

“There are two separate questions,” he said. “How many jobs did it create? And is this reasonable science?

“There is no evidence that it’s creating jobs. What in the world does this have to do with creating jobs? And the science is a pretty low bar. We still have issues with this research, but there are some that are more egregious. But should it have received funding in an economic stimulus package?”

Lange said the grant does have a stimulus effect.

“It absolutely is paying the salaries of people who would be working less or not working at all,” he said, adding that approximately 15 people have been employed under the grant on tasks such as field research, though not necessarily in a full-time, permanent capacity.

Rep. Bob Filner, D-Chula Vista, taught the history of science at SDSU during his 22 years on the faculty.

“It’s all politics,” he said of the GOP senators’ report. “They pick this because the subject sounds funny to politicians who just want to demagogue rather than take leadership and inform the public of the necessity to reduce the toll and financial cost of DUI.”

GRANTS CALLED OUT

From the McCain-Coburn report:

•Despite having no plans to reopen a shuttered visitor center at Mount St. Helens in Washington state, the U.S. Forest Service is spending more than $554,000 to replace its windows.

•The University of North Carolina at Charlotte received more than $750,000 in stimulus funds to help develop a computerized choreography program that its creators believe could lead to a YouTube-like “Dance Tube” online application.

•The California Academy of Sciences is receiving nearly $2 million to send researchers to the Southwest Indian Ocean Islands and East Africa, to capture, photograph, and analyze thousands of exotic ants.

Ralph Hingson, a scientist at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, which issued the grant, bristled at the senators’ criticism.

“All the investigators had to show how they were going to create jobs or retain jobs,” he said. “That was part of the application.

“And economic productivity? When we lose these people in drunken driving crashes, and they tend to be younger people, think of the number of preventable years of life lost. If we keep those people alive and working, they’ll be paying taxes and making products that other people buy instead of costing society money.”

Hingson, who was an associate dean for research at the Boston University School of Public Health before joining the NIH, said the subject of Lange’s work is worthy.

“We know people do not understand how much alcohol is in these drinks at these restaurants and bars,” he said. “It’s a very reasonable question, whether increased information might lead to reduced drunken driving.

“These senators poke fun at (a research proposal) that went through a highly competitive review process by public health experts and scientific experts in general. NIH brings in the best ones. It undergoes rigorous peer review.”

Hingson, who is the director of the division of epidemiology and prevention research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, also served for a while as vice president for public policy for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

“Let’s let these senators go tell people who have lost relatives in drunken driving crashes that this is a waste of taxpayers’ money,” he said. “They are trivializing the work of a researcher with a national reputation who is trying to address a serious problem.”

McCain’s office did not respond to e-mail and telephone requests for comment.